Martin A. Nkemngu
30 June 2009
The media is currently awash with sensational reports and opinions on the purported ill-gotten fortune of President Paul Biya. The coverage is based on the report released last week by a French NGO known as the Catholic Committee against Hunger for Development (CCFD).
The report has fallen in the waiting hands of agents of intoxication who have been looking for an opportunity to launch an attack on Cameroon's leadership and divert national and international attention from the lofty ideals of Biya's New Deal strategy for the realisation of his "greater achievements" for the nation. The cardinal points of President Biya's ambition have been the maintenance of peace, the promotion of a truly democratic culture, the reduction of poverty and perhaps most important the fight against corruption and ill-gotten wealth.
This campaign of intoxication and misinformation is calculated to turn the Cameroonian people away from their onward march towards economic development, political stability, unity peace and progress. It is not difficult for any critical mind to establish a link between the allegations and the ruthless fight that President Biya has wage against corruption and the acquisition of illicit wealth. The President's resolve to stamp out corruption from Cameroon society is backed by the setting up of strong anti-corruption institutions like the Ministry in charge of the Supreme State Control, the National Anti-Corruption Commission (CONAC), the National Agency for the Investigation of Financial Malpractices (ANIF), the Audit Bench of the Supreme Court as well as the Good Governance Programme. With all these structures in place and with several top members of the regime behind bars for corruption and embezzlement of public funds, it is easy to understand why the Biya's anti-corruption campaign has become a Sword of Damocles hanging over the heads of many highly-placed public officials. Reason why everything must be done even in complicity with foreign agents to stop the fight.
On his accession to the Supreme Magistracy Paul BIYA made rigour and moralisation his guiding principles. Twenty six years down the road, the President has remained above board without any allegations of wrong doing being attributed to him. When a report alleges that President Biya owns a villa, one wonders what is strange in that for a man who has occupied top positions in public life for more than forty years. There is a traditional adage which says, "a man who cannot build a house for himself is not fit to head a family".
A careful reading of the report also reveals that the authors have a hidden political agenda. Cameroon's political calendar schedules presidential election for 2011. The plan is to provide material of diversion and intoxication for use against a man who has led his people in peace, stability and progress. The fact that Cameroon has remained an island of peace in a continent plagued by ignorance, disease, conflict and war has disturbed enemies who take delight in presenting Africa as a continent of perpetual suffering and misery. After all, wars provide a suitable and gainful market for the sale of deadly weapons which help to maintain the arms industry in the West. Stability or peace in Africa means bad business for the arms trade.
Moreover, Cameroon is a democratic nation with a free press. The people are not fools. They have the ability to judge and make informed decisions through free and fair elections. In a desire to move the democratic process forward, President Biya has put in place Elections Cameroon (ELECAM) which offers the people greater possibility to freely choose their leaders. So there is no need to adopt below-the-belt tactics. If the policies put in place by the President to improve governance in Cameroon are not satisfactory the people will express their will when the time comes. For now, President Biya needs the full support of all and sundry to pursue his fight against corruption, embezzlement and graft. Any attempts by frightened predators and crooks to divert public attention from the right cause should be checked with determination and resolve.
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Who is Martin Nkemngu? If he believes what he write about, he should be taken to an asylum. There is no Cameroonian who doubts that Paul Biya is thief. This document has merely given evidence of what Cameroonians already knew. Long ago Paul Biya asked for evidence of corruption. Now that they have given him, he has sent his sorrugates to attempt to undermine it. And they are doing it very poorly! Why can't Paul Biya speak for himself? Is he above speaking for himself? Martin Nkemngu would not be employed as a journalist anywhere else if Cameroon Tribune, the… [Read Full Text]
This is a very sad diatribe from a supposedly educated Cameroonian. Reread this article. Everything is what Paul Biya has given us. What do you think will happen to Cameroon when Paul Biya EVENTUALLY follows Bongo? Cameroon will not burn in hell!